What's Rockin' Yer iPod?

You know, back when I actually had a job and had money (or, to be more precise, back before Napster and mp3 file trading), my favorite day of the week used to be Tuesday. Yes, Tuesday, not Friday or Saturday, but Tuesday. Why?

Tuesday is the day that new records are released (although I must give a shout out to my old school haunt The Vinyl in Port Chester, which straight didn't give a fuck and stocked new records as early as Friday-- so best). Being the music dork I am, walking into the record store on a Tuesday afternoon after school used to bring me so much joy, as it meant I was only minutes away from discovering some new grooves and rockin' out to some new tunes. Now, of course with the internet, the whole mystique of Tuesday's and release dates has kind of waned a bit (and I am just as guilty of this as the next dude).

Nevertheless, seeing as how today, July 12, you can find several interesting releases landing on the shelves of your local music provider, I figured I'd do a little run down and see what the rest of you out in the blogtopia are interested in rockin on the iPod, bumping in the car, or throwing on that next mixtape for the significant other. Without further ado...

So, as we all know, the new hot spot in hip hop is Houston, TX. The H-Town sound has already produced one platinum rapper/overnight celebrity in Mike Jones, and now the true Boss Hog of the Swishahouse set, Slim Thug, steps to the plate with Already Platinum. Now, I haven't heard this yet, but given that 1) Most hardcore Houston heads will tell you Slim Thug is infinitely more talented than Mike Jones (or fellow "Still Tippin" collaborator Paul Wall, who's The People's Champion drops next month) and 2) The Neptunes are backing this (granted, the 'Tunes have kinda fallen off in the last year or so, and are certainly nowhere near where they were 3-4 years ago, when every beat that leaked out of their VA studio was an absolute bear), I have a feeling Slim's gonna be hauling a platinum plaque or two back to Houston in the next few months.

Perhaps you're not on the Southern tip, but you've cast your allegiance with the crew that is rapidly making every internet rap nerd (and this blogger included) forget G-Unit, Harlem's own Diplomats (peep "Diplomats Week" if you don't believe me) who hit you with Diplomats & Duke Da God Present: Dipset More Than Music, Volume One. More Than Music aspires to clue any remaining non-believers in to what the Dip Set Movement has been doing, and letting new comers like Hell Rell and J.R. Writer get some shine alongside seasoned vets like Cam, Juelz, and Jim Jones. Now, if you took my advice and went out and got that Memorial Day mixtape I raved about a few weeks ago, you've already heard alot of the jams on here, but there's enough stuff on here--particularly the extremely wicked "Somebody's Gotta Die Tonight" (who knew wood winds could be so damn menacing?) by Cam'ron (and innane yelling by Freaky Zeeky on the outro). My only beef: Where the fuck is "Eye of the Beholder (Get 'Em Daddy)" (which I've also written about in the past), quite possibly my favorite Cam joint ever!?

Hey, maybe hip hop's just not your thing, period. Maybe you enjoy shaking your ass to big fat dance grooves, yeah? Well, then you must go out and grab a copy of the new disc from the Iranian-born, DC-bred house music kings Deep Dish, George Is On. If you downloaded the essential mix I posted on this site a few weeks back, you've already heard most of the songs in some form or another, but the boys do a good job of straddling the line between club shakers and more meditative home listening joints, seamlessly flowing from one to the next. Standout tracks include the Stevie Nicks assisted Fleetwood Mac remake "Dreams," "Sergio's Theme," "Say Hello," "Flashdance," and "No Stopping For Nicotine," among others.

Along the same lines, if you're looking for more groovy party tunes, look no further than Royksopp's new one, The Understanding. The debut album from these Norweigan masters of downtempo, Melody A.M., was pretty damn good, and Understanding upps the ante. It's not all "Poor Leno"-styled downtempo this time out, but even some certifiable discerning dance floor bangers to be found as well. Don't believe me? Even snooty ass Pitchfork likes it (proving that yes, it's ok all you indie kids, you can actually, ya know, dance from time to time-- seriously, it won't kill you, give it a whirl). I've only listened to this once so far, but I can tell you that "Alpha Male" is eight minutes of gorgeous grooviness.

I tried to find an interesting rock release that dropped this week to round everything out, but the only thing that really caught my attention is The Tain EP by the Decemberists. So, you're just gonna have to keep rockin' out to Sufjan Stevens, The Whipe Stripes, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! or whatever else it is that's been making your morning commute a little bit easier. That is, unless you live in the new England area, which means you're probably getting your hair done up in cornrows and rocking out to Bronson Arroyo's Clearing The Bases.

So, dear reader, what interests you about this magical summer Tuesday? Or, more generally, what's been rockin' your socks recently? (And if you're suspecting that this was all a cheap ploy to generate some more comments from you people-- ding ding ding! You get a gold star on your nose! Perhaps if I get more comments on a regular basis, I wouldn't have to resort to cheap tricks like this... think about it!).

P.S. If you're looking for the grooviest mp3 I've heard in months, go here. It almost sounds like someone gave DJ Shadow a bottle of cough syrup and a DJ Screw tape, then dared him to fuck with Endtroducing, and he got through five and a half minutes before passing out into a sizzurp coma. Maybe not, maybe I'm reaching... but seriously, just go download it, you'll thank me later. (Shout to Music (For Robots))

London Calling

I'll be back with more of my normal frivolity and oddball ranting later today or tomorrow, but right now, it just doesn't seem appropriate. I woke up this morning, all set to write some cover letters and continue my search for employment in our Nation's Capital, only to learn that we can now tragically add London and England to the ever growing list of cities/countries which have been struck by an Al Qaeda organization which only seems to be growing stronger and more emboldened.

Think about it: One day after London wins the bid for the 2012 Olympics, four bombs rip through Subway cars and a doubledecker bus. It reminds me once again just how scary and well-coordinated Al Qaeda truly is. And it also makes me wonder whether London was the target all along, or if they were sleeper cells deployed in each of the five competing cities, with only the London cell getting the green light after the announcement? If Paris had gotten the bid yesterday, would we be reading about the tragedy in Paris this morning rather than London? I have just about zero doubt that there are sleeper cells in New York or Paris, Al Qaeda's been active in Madrid before, and it wouldn't surprise me if they've gone so far as to extend to Moscow (although I don't know how that would help their objectives, the global reach of Al Qaeda and it's variously affiliated branches no longer perplexes me, but simply frightens me).

I don't know. I'm in shock. All I do know is that I agree with my buddies at 1115.org: "It's time to stop playing games and produce Bin Laden."

"London calling to the faraway towns
Now war is declared - and battle come down
London calling to the underworld
Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls..."
- The Clash

UPDATE: Once again, I find myself agreeing with the boys over at 1115.org (rapidly becoming one of my daily reads, along with the always brilliant firedoglake) when they say this:

"Is this supposed to inspire confidence:
The U.S. government raised the terrorism alert level for buses, subways and trains across the United States on Thursday in the wake of deadly bombings in London but said it expected no similar attack in the United States.
[Homeland Security Secretary Michael] Chertoff earlier said, “The Department of Homeland Security does not have any intelligence indicating this type of attack is planned in the United States.”
Unless the U.S. government is implying that the U.K. government did expect or have intelligence on today’s attacks, the above statements are completely meaningless. The Bush administration has no shame about using fear as a weapon, but at the same time they issue statements saying that they have it under control. And why is it that the vast majority of Bush supporters live in areas where terrorism isn’t much of a threat and the large metropolises where attacks are much more likely want him gone?"

Yeah, and for all everyone wants to talk about raising alert levels and focusing more on mass transit and this being a "wake up call" and what not... shouldn't we have woken up to this possibility March 11, 2004? Or perhaps from the scores of bus bombings that have occured in Israel? The fact that we needed a day like this to "wake up" to the fact that Al Qaeda (or anyone else for that matter) might attack subway cars, buses, or trains is fucking laughable. Any idiot could have told you that mass transit would be a target-- hell, any idiot can tell you that Al Qaeda will use any and all weapons it can get their hands on to make their points and kill people.
Over at TPM Cafe, Greg Anrig, Jr. makes similiar points.

You know, it's all well and good that we respond and try to act tough, do everything in our power to stop these things from happening again... but at the end of the day, we're still playing defense. We're still responding and reacting, and allowing Al Qaeda control-- control of targets, timing, everything. And so I return to what I said earlier today:

Get fucking Bin Laden.

I know enough about Al Qaeda to know that should we ever get Osama, Al Qaeda and the threat it represents doesn't just disappear (and in the near term, it probably increases the threat due to retaliatory violence by sleeper cells). But you get Osama, you get his lieuteneunts, and then you've got something.

"And why is it that the vast majority of Bush supporters live in areas where terrorism isn’t much of a threat and the large metropolises where attacks are much more likely want him gone?"

You know, being that I lived in New York up until last month, this is something that I've always wondered. When Lincoln, Nebraska gets hit with massive terrorist strikes, we can talk terrorism, pals.

(P.S. As you can see, I figured out how to post photos here. It really wasn't that hard-- all it took was discovering the "Add A Photo" button on Blogger. Amazing! I'm an idiot. In any event, you can expect some photo fun to be popping up on this page more in the future, now that I know-- and knowing is half the battle).

FURTHER UPDATE: Just found thisfrom Londonist:

"Yeah, they hit us. But we didn't go down. Londonist's sympathies go to the victims, and we like to think of the hot sweat that is breaking out across the brows of a fair few terrorist nutters right now - we're coming for you, you fuckers."

Reminds me of how I felt on 9/11. That's the right attitude to have-- hold your head, London. (Props to The Fiddler for orginally pointing me to this link.)